THE BERBERRY. 



The Beech, though perhaps neither so handsome nor so 

 valuable as the oak, yet rivals it in appearance, and grows 

 more rapidly, so rapidly indeed that on that account it might 

 well claim to be the emblem of prosperity, while it deserves 

 to be so regarded for its abundant mast, which in days of 

 yore fattened deer and swine. Beech-nuts yield a sweet oil, 

 which the French peasantry not unwillingly mingle with 

 their diet. 



THE BERBERRY (Berberis z/^/^arw).— TARTNESS. 

 Sharpness. 



The Berberry is an ornament to our shrubberies, when 

 adorned with its pendulous racemes of flowers in spring, or 

 when its bunches of bright red berries are ripe in autumn. 

 The green of the leaves, which are pleasantly acid, has a 

 bluish or yellow tinge. The odour of the flowers is agreeable 

 when somewhat diluted with air, but offensive to our olfactory 

 nerves, if it comes in contact with them when just emitted 

 from the bloom. The fruit is so sharply acid, that birds reject 

 them. They are, nevertheless, valued as garnish, for which 

 purpose they are pickled ; and they form an agreeable pre- 

 serve, when boiled with sugar. The Poles extract a fine 

 yellow dye for leather from the root-bark. The inner bark of 

 the stem when applied to linen, with alum, will dye it yellow. 

 It is asserted by many writers that the Berberry affords 

 shelter and nourishment to an insect {jEcidium Berberidis), 

 which produces rust in corn, so that it is a great foe to the 



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